Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 935 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 935 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its stake in Ecolab by 212.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $251.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $254.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $250.04. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Ecolab Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.